Government, through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development has urged young academics to take the lead in Zimbabwe's technological revolution through strategic alliances and futuristic initiatives; as the country heads towards industrialisation.
Speaking at a reception to honour over 60 HIT staff development fellows who completed their studies in India, the Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Honourable Dr Godfrey Gandawa urged the staff development fellows to use the acquired skills not only in the lecture room but to help industry improve and resuscitate.
"We must, deliberately prepare future generations for the jobs of the future whose form, essence and attributes will be fundamentally different from those of the jobs of today. Such jobs will be characterized with sets of competencies and skills, which are yet to emerge. Thus, the training programmes that we design and teach must be futuristic, focusing on teaching and training future skills rather than to remain focusing on the rear view mirror of the world of work. Like any other developing economies, Zimbabwe's future industrialization will reside in data management and technological advances and the staff we have here today must be the drivers of that agenda," he said.
Dr Gandawa expressed his congratulations to HIT for embarking on a robust programme of capacity building to its human capital base. "This programme is in sync with our STEM programme and the various national and international initiatives that we subscribe to, and have embarked on as a government," he said.
Dr Gandawa called on the Institute to devise and come up with robust innovations on what and how to produce products that are competitive on the global market. "Coming up with such innovations demands adoption of a positive attitude and an increased level of preparedness by government and institutions of higher learning towards investing in research –based science and technology. To this end, investing in strategic human capital is of paramount importance. The Institute was also commended for sticking to its mandate of technology development, incubation, transfer and commercialization, thereby providing for the promotion of research, planning and development of human resources as enunciated in the Manpower Planning and Development Act.
The human capital must be stemitic, like we see here today, where the staff development fellows attained qualifications in major disciplines of science such as Genetic Engineering, Engineering Design, Bioinformatics, Electronic Engineering and Machine Design, Instrumentation and Controls, Nanotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Big Data, Internet of Things, Software Engineering, Petrochemical Engineering, Plant and Process design Engineering, Cloud Computing, Information Technology, Computer Science and Engineering, Computer Science, Information Security and Cyber Forensics, and Cyber Security, among other areas of specialization," said Honourable Dr Gandawa.
"We thank the Government and people of India for the noble initiative of enrolling Zimbabweans and in particular Harare Institute of Technology staff in their institutions and allowing them to pay subsidised tuition fees. This is a clear demonstration of the benefits that are accruing to our nation as a result of our Look East policy. We greatly appreciate the support that has been extended to our people and the continued zeal of the Indian government to transfer technology and knowledge to the people of Zimbabwe. I reaffirm the commitment of the Zimbabwean Government to further broaden the scope of our cooperation," said Honourable Dr Gandawa.
Indian Envoy affirms support to HIT
Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency Mr Rungsung Masakuwi has reaffirmed his government's commitment to support the Harare Institute of Technology in its endeavor to maximize benefits from staff development programmes. He was speaking at a reception to honour over 60 staff development fellows who have returned home from India where they were pursuing graduate studies.
" I hope what you learned and absorbed in India will come handy in helping your own country move forward in terms of technology development and innovation," said the Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Masakuwi.
Mr Masakuwi also added that he was impressed with the outputs from the HIT's Technology Centre and is sure that HIT will harness more technologies for national development from this centre. He also pledged more support to HIT. "As an indication of our continued support to HIT, an expert team of HMT is already here to do a feasibility study for the upgrading of the Technology Centre. It is our commitment to continue providing support to such Institutes and centres which symbolize the finest of India-Zimbabwe cooperation," he said.
In his congratulatory message to the Staff Development Fellows, Mr Masakuwi challenged them to rise above modern challenges. "I hope you will take advantage of what you have acquired and get ready to contribute to the progress and development of Zimbabwe. May you contribute to make Zimbabwe a humane, happy and technology-driven but compassionate society", he concluded.
In his remarks HIT Vice Chancellor Eng. Q.C Kanhukamwe said he was highly elated that His Excellency the Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe was on HIT campus for the first time to bear witness and testify to the good fruits of his government's engagement with Zimbabwe.
Vice Chancellor Kanhukamwe added that HIT is committed to consolidating its Innovation and Technopreneurial signature by promoting scholarship through the inculcation of a hands-on approach to curriculum based on robust M.Tech and D.Tech staff development initiative as the developed staff will ultimately drive research and development, innovative outputs as well as intellectual Property generation.
"As we grow HIT, we remain focused in all our activities on the need to produce a new generation of technology cadres that are hands-on, competency and profiency driven as well as having the stamina to venture into and set up hi-tech business enterprises.
Your Excellency, HIT is ever grateful for the ITEC programme which has seen more of our staff members going for short term and refresher courses that have gone a long way in increasing their productivity within the university. It is our hope that these linkages will continue to be strengthened," said the Vice Chancellor.
Eng. Kanhukamwe also advised that the Institute's capacity building programme is still proceeding with 40 students currently studying for various M.Tech degree programmes and another 20 have enrolled for doctoral studies.
The staff development fellows were based at the Delhi Technological University and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University where they undertook Master of Technology degree programmes ranging from Software Engineering, Microwave and Optical Communication, Thermal Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Science and Engineering, Nano Technology, Neural Networks, Chemical Engineering, Real Time Systems, among others. The fellows were derived from various departments within the Institute, such as Software Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Information Technology, Chemical Process and Systems Engineering, Computer Sciences and Biotechnology.
